The Federal Government moved a notch higher in its anti-graft war last night with a confirmation that it was launching a comprehensive probe into the controversial Halliburton bribery case in which top Nigerian politicians received huge bribes in the region of N66 billion.
The bribes were taken by top players in government between 1994 and 1998 from five major companies that were awarded $6 billion for the construction of gas trains in Bonny Island in Rivers State for the Nigerian Liquefied Gas Company, NLNG. Under the fresh probe being ordered by the Buhari administration and unlike in the past, the key players in the Nigerian Government who demanded and collected the huge sums of money and those who offered the bribes, are to be fished out and prosecuted.
It was also learnt that the Federal Government is keen on determining if indeed the sum of $200 million said to have been paid by the five companies who were indicted over the scam, was indeed remitted into the purse of the government. The fresh enquiry will also ascertain why five senior Nigerian lawyers who negotiated with the indicted multinational firms to escape prosecution in Nigeria and paid the $200 million fines, collected close to $12 million as ‘legal fees’ from the fines.
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